The following article was printed in the Australasian Muslim Times Magazine (AMUST) today:
The Great Cycle Challenge is a fundraiser for kids fighting cancer, conducted by the Children’s Medical Research Institute in Sydney. During the whole month of October riders will take to their bikes to clock in as many km as possible and raise funds for the sick.
Tanya Kubitza from Al Siraat College, Melbourne has contributed in raising an amazing $8782.55 with her colleagues Andrew Houghton and Syed Waqas Ahmad.
“Some very happy tears here right now in the office. I am still shaking my head in utter disbelieve, this has gone way beyond my expectations, subhanAllah! I can hardly describe how incredibly happy and grateful I am feeling. But of course, I won’t stop my fundraising efforts here and hope to keep going a bit further until the Challenge closes at the end of the month.” Tanya commented.
Tanya is a keen (off-road) mountain biker and signed up for the inaugurate Great Cycling Challenge in 2013. Her initial fundraising goal was $500 but after achieving that within a fortnight of having signed up, she topped up and ended up raising $3,500 for this worthy cause last year.
“It was a very humbling experience and one of the best things I have participated in, and thus I have been greatly looking forward to doing it again this year.” Tanya said.
She created the team Al Siraat after promoting it amongst staff, being aware that they have some cycling enthusiasts amongst her colleagues.
Being one of the top fundraiser’s last year, Tanya was also given the opportunity to sign up early and start raising funds from early August onwards. She is passionate to continue on initiatives in her efforts to raise more funds for such a worthy cause. To raise funds for the School Team, she had organised a weekly icy pole sale during last year’s October along with two Ride2School days for which students donated gold coins. This year, She wanted to try even harder and therefore set both a higher riding and fundraising goal.
Tanya’s biggest sponsor is her local Pizza shop, Mr Pizza, a small local Muslim business. She wanted to honour her biggest sponsor, “I would really like to thank him for all his help and support.”
You may click here to read the article in AMUST.